


Start all over again

by LiStrange (orphan_account)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Titans (Shingeki no Kyojin), Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, F/F, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Past Brainwashing, Past Torture, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 13:17:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16893336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/LiStrange
Summary: Torture (from Latin tortus: to twist, to torment) is the act of deliberately inflicting severe physical or psychological suffering on someone by another as a punishment or in order to fulfill some desire of the torturer or force some action from the victim.ORAfter six long years, Mikasa Ackerman is finally able to reunite with her soulmate, Annie Leonhardt, who practically disappeared overnight without a warning.





	Start all over again

Mikasa inhaled and exhaled deeply various times to calm herself down, her right hand caressing her nape just where her soulmate-identifying mark —a 1 inch polyhedric crystal— was. The young Ackerman was unsettled and nervous, fuming… Yet thrilled.

After six long years, six **_painfully long_ **years, she was about to reunite with her beloved, who had disappeared one day without warning or leaving a trace behind… Although Mikasa was now aware that Annie had disappeared because she had been kidnapped.

Kidnapped by Mikasa’s foster brother, Eren Jaeger, who had gone crazy after years of claiming that “creating a superior human” was utterly possible, and something that he would do. Why he chose Annie as his subject was something that Mikasa didn’t know yet, but she was decided to discover it once she brought her home.

Mikasa felt observed, as if Eren was watching her right then and there somehow… Perhaps with his own two eyes from the shadows… Or maybe through some hidden camera. Mikasa didn’t know what to believe, she just knew that she felt observed and sickened, and that Annie was in the next room.

With shaky hands, Mikasa grabbed the card she had found alongside the letter that summoned her presence in a laboratory located in the centre of Germany, and slid it through the lock. A small light bulb, which was placed over the iron door, turned on and started flickering at the same time that the door was lifted upwards. When both movements stopped, the bulb was illuminating the place with a green light. Mikasa inhaled profusely once again and stepped inside.

The room was rather… Bizarre. It was divided in two by a window pane, which most likely was bullet proof and quite thick. Her side was almost dark, with nothing on it, whilst the other side was bright and had a bed, some screens, and a couple of speakers on the walls.

The Ackerman bit her lip, having spotted her girlfriend in record time.

Annie Leonhardt, a professional martial artist who couldn’t be defeated no matter what, was lying on the bed in a foetal position covered by a thin gown. Annie’s legs were pressed against her chest, her head was resting on them, and her hands were around her head as if they were pushing it downwards. Mikasa could almost feel Eren’s smirk, could almost hear him say “Oh how the mighty have fallen”, could almost hear his laughter… And she felt disgusted.

When she stepped inside, Annie’s head snapped in a matter of milliseconds.

Mikasa gasped. Her soulmate had her right eye covered by a dressing, her left one’s iris had a darker shade of blue than the one she once had, various scars decorated her cheeks and nose, and her lips were sewn together in a sloppy yet firm way. Her hair was longer too, but it was uneven… As if someone had cut it in random patterns.

The raven girl rushed over the window pane and placed her right hand on it, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks as she did so.

Annie, on the other hand, got off the bed slowly and cautiously, as if she was examining Mikasa and deciding whether she should approach her or not. Something about this girl was familiar to her, she felt like she knew her from somewhere, but she couldn’t remember anything.

“It’s me, Mikasa…” The Ackerman cried out, immediately bursting into tears and turning into a mess of sobs.

The blonde approached her quickly, her steps shaky and not coordinated, and placed a hand on the window too. She felt the need to reassure the stranger, to hold her, to tell her that everything was going to be okay… But why? She didn’t know her, right?

Mikasa couldn’t take in the sight of Annie… She was so damn thin, and her left leg was slightly open, thing that must have been a remnant of a gruesome wound.

“What has he done to you?” The raven mumbled more to herself than to Annie.

The blonde tilted her head and observed Mikasa in detail. The girl was familiar, everything about her was, but she still couldn’t pinpoint why. Annie only remembered Doctor Jaeger, and no-one else.

Mikasa opened her mouth and closed it seconds afterwards, repeated the action various times, and knelt down so that they could more or less be in the same level. Annie followed her moves, curious so as to why the girl had suddenly knelt down. 

The Ackerman ran her hands through her hair and grabbed it, trying it up in a ponytail with shaky hands and in an impatient way. She turned around and pointed at her nape.

The tortured girl brought a hand to the right side of her face, slid her fingers underneath the dressing and pushing it away so that she could observe the… Mark? With both eyes. 

After a minute, Mikasa turned around, and bit her lip. Her eyes widened when she saw Annie’s right eye. Her iris wasn’t blue anymore, but blood red. She shook her head and pointed at Annie’s right wrist.

“There’s… There’s a mark there, right? An ‘M’ surrounded by pink leaves, right?” Mikasa asked nervously. Annie lifted the arm that Mikasa was pointing at, and realized that yes, there was said mark. It was… Weird though. Her entire wrist was scarred since it had been burnt down and skinned, but the mark stood there in an almost casual way.

“Those marks bound us as soulmates… Please, Annie… Believe me.” Mikasa begged, feeling her hope on the edge of faltering.

The blonde looked at her left, and Mikasa followed her gaze. There was a door there. 

They made eye contact again for a second before Mikasa sprinted towards it. She was surprised by the fact that it didn’t need a key to be opened, but she wasn’t going to complain about that. 

When she entered the room, Annie approached her once more, and oh how it pained Mikasa to see how little Annie had become. She had been petite before she went missing, but this was an entire other level and way too unhealthy for comfort.

Mikasa wanted to hug her, but she knew that she shouldn’t rush it by the way Annie’s eyes tingled with uncertainness and slight fear.

“I’m going to take you home, keep you safe and take care of you.” Mikasa stated, her hands up and her palms facing Annie to show that she had no ill intent.

Annie wavered, that sounded good, perhaps too good to be true. She was used to pain, screams, insults… To Doctor Jaeger exposing her body to unbearable heat and freezing cold, to her body being marred in a new and worse way than the prior one, to her being left to rot without food for a week and only being given water every now and then… But to be kept safe and taken care of? That was new.

“Trust me… Please.” Mikasa begged, her voice shaky once more.

There was a part of her that wanted to trust the raven girl, a small fraction that already did, and a huge fight within her mind about what she should do.

If Doctor Jaeger found out that she had followed a random woman, he’d be enraged… But then again, he treated her like utter scum.

Annie chose to trust the woman.

She knew that she had taken the right choice when she saw her pretty and wide smile, when she saw how her eyes were filled with hope rather than sorrow, when she saw tears of happiness running down her cheeks.

Annie would have smiled if her mouth hadn’t been sewn, because she felt something warm bubbling up in her chest after so long.


End file.
